IRELAND’S SANITA PUSPURE finished her debut Olympics on a high note with a convincing win in the “C” final of the women’s single sculls on Saturday.
Puspure’s medal chances were dashed when she narrowly missed out on a place in the A/B semi-finals on Tuesday but the Latvian-born rower bounced back to win her consolation final by almost eight seconds.
Puspure led home the field in a time of 7:59.77 with Micheen Thornycroft in second (8:07.52) and Yariulvis Cobas in third (8:14.59).
She finishes in 13th place overall with the A and B finals to come later on Saturday in Eton Dorney.
Ireland’s first female rower at the Olympics since Frances Cryan in 1980, Puspure had targeted a top 12 finish in London and got her campaign off to a great start when qualifying in third from her heat.
Her draw for the quarter-finals was unkind and a time of 7:44.19 was only good enough for fourth place, though it would have been enough for a top-three finish and a place in the semis had she been in one of the other three races.
